Away. If she could fly, high above the rocky, tangled terrain, the two of them would be hundreds of miles away from the town of Cold Plains and its potential dangers. It seemed as if she and the baby had been on the run for hours. Day had become night, and it was harder than ever trying to make her way through the dense forest.

She had no idea how long it had been since she'd bid goodbye to her friend May Frommer and dashed into the woods in broad daylight, but she couldn't stop now--not until she was sure they would not be found.

The baby in the carrier at her breast whimpered low, her cries so pitiful and weak that Susannah's heart winced. We'll stop soon, my darling Melody. Mommy will find safety, I promise. I know you're hungry.

Frustrated to the point of blindness by not being able to slow her steps long enough to feed her child, Susannah barged into a gully and practically tripped over fallen tree limbs in her way. Breathing heavily, she scolded herself for not paying closer attention. It would never do for her to fall. She couldn't while carrying her baby and with the heavy pack of their meager belongings on her back.

At the far side of the gully, the moon broke through heavy foliage and lit her surroundings just enough for her to get her bearings. It was infinitely harder to find her way in the pitch darkness than earlier that morning when she'd gotten directions.

She needed to stop for a moment. They both required water, a little breather.

Leaning against the thick trunk of a tall pine, she pulled a baby bottle from her coat pocket and placed it against her child's lips. "Please drink, sweetheart," she whispered.

Baby Melody seemed drugged and had little interest in the bottle she hadn't learned to use even in the best of surroundings. "I know. You want Mama's milk. But we can't stop that long right now."

Susannah placed a couple of drops of the liquid against the child's mouth, hoping some would spill inside, then she pulled off the nipple and drank a couple of swallows herself. Stale. She didn't blame her child for not being interested in water that tasted old, but her baby needed liquid. It had been several hours since she'd halted their escape long enough to breast-feed.

Did she dare try it now? While they were stopped for the moment, Susannah quieted her breathing and listened for any sign that their pursuers were closing in. She heard leaves rustling in the wind but nothing that sounded like men crashing through the forest after them.

How had she gotten into this position in the first place? Everything that had once been so clean and good had suddenly turned so rotten and dangerous. It didn't seem fair.

But most of her life hadn't been fair, either, she realized. She'd been hoping that the new circumstances and pleasant people she'd found in Cold Plains would do the trick and change her life around--for Melody's sake, if not for hers.

The baby didn't deserve to start out her life this way. She hadn't done anything wrong. Susannah refused to allow this kind of prejudice against her child. Melody was not going to suffer the fate she had.

A single tear rolled from the edge of her eye, but Susannah couldn't cry. She couldn't afford to waste the bodily fluids. Biting her cheek to make the tears stop, she tried thinking back to how happy she'd been on the day Melody...